Stream It Or Skip It: ‘Metal Shop Masters’ On Netflix, A Reality Competition Featuring People That Weld Metal Into Art

Metal Shop Masters pits seven artist/fabricators in a competition where they will display their best metalworking skills in pieces of art that can potentially be on a massive scale. Comedian Jo Koy is the host, and the judges, Stephanie Hoffman and David Madero, are two well-known artist/fabricators that have public works of art in prominent locations. The winner of the competition not only gets the title of “Metal Shop Master” but a grand prize of $50,000.

METAL SHOP MASTERS: STREAM IT OR SKIP IT?

Opening Shot: As we see shots of people welding, host Jo Koy says, “When you apply an electric current that creates hundreds of degrees of heat to a simple piece of metal, you can make the toughest material in the world melt and bend to your will, and create badass works of art from hardened steel.”

The Gist: The first competition started when the contestants were at home; they were tasked to design and source parts for a sculpture that would be an avatar for themselves. It could be a self-portrait, or something that represents their personality, but it definitely needs to have a strong connection back to the artist and who they are. One more requirement was that the finished sculpture had to have at least one moving part. The unfinished parts were then sent to the workshop where the contest was held; the contestants had 10 hours to put together their sculptures.

As the judges roam around to the different workstations, they find two different issues. Rae, who wants to create a butterfly with huge moving wings, welded her parts together at home, a no-no for the contest. The judges force her to take everything apart and then weld it back together again; this makes things rougher for Rae, as the wings don’t work as smoothly as they did when she was home.

Seven, who is doing a metal representation of a BLM fist logo, starts pulling out pre-fabricated parts that she found at junkyards; Madero tells her that she has to fabricate the parts herself instead of welding existing parts together.

At the end of the contest, one welder wins and another is sent home.

What Shows Will It Remind You Of? Like every reality competition we’ve seen that features artisans, like Blown Away, The Great Pottery Throw Down, or even Making It, Metal Shop Masters is done in a format that’s similar to what Project Runway established 17 years ago.

Our Take: There isn’t anything particularly whimsical about Metal Shop Masters; even Koy is relatively serious throughout the first episode. The competition is a tried and true format that works, so why mess with it? The contestants get the task, we see a compressed timeframe of them completing the tasks, we see commentary by Koy and the judges, and we see the judges render their opinions of the final products.

But these contestants aren’t going to be particularly quippy or even judgmental of other contestants’ work. Let’s face it: Concentrating on melting metal with hundreds of degrees of heat, with sparks flying everywhere, without giving yourself third-degree burns leaves little room for humor or cattiness. But these people are doing some serious stuff, making sculptures that, at least in episode one, range from the extraordinarily complex to near-life-sized in scope.

There are stories attached to them, of course; Rae found herself through metalwork after enduring a drug addiction and a teenage pregnancy, while Frank, the oldest competitor, took to metal art after losing his teenage son. Those stories help, because many of the scenes are of the competitors behind their masks; while the masks are distinctively decorated, it leaves the viewer at a little bit of a distance.

It’s the results that will really be the reason why people who might not be interested in the difference between TIG welding and ARC welding, which are explained with graphics and contestant interviews. Given the time constraints, the results are quite complex and well-engineered, which bodes well for what we will see in upcoming episodes.

Sex and Skin: Welders have a lot of tattoos. A lot of them.

Parting Shot: The loser rests their mask on a workbench to symbolize going home. But there’s another challenge coming right up, which Koy sends the contestants off to start.

Sleeper Star: We like Tom’s description of his art: “My metal art, I’m not about butterflies and sea turtles. I want it to be intimidating.” His robot with a spinning head and glasses was one of our favorites.

Most Pilot-y Line: We’re getting tired of the “mad scramble” montage during the supposed last few minutes of the challenge. Be real: if someone is scrambling to weld major parts of their sculpture together when there’s only five minutes left, something has gone terribly wrong with their planning, don’t you think?

Our Call: STREAM IT. Metal Shop Masters doesn’t break new ground as far as its structure and format are concerned. But the scenes of literal sparks flying and the resultingly amazing pieces of art these contestants create should be worth the time spent on each episode.

Joel Keller (@joelkeller) writes about food, entertainment, parenting and tech, but he doesn’t kid himself: he’s a TV junkie. His writing has appeared in the New York Times, Slate, Salon, RollingStone.com, VanityFair.com, Fast Company and elsewhere.

Stream Metal Shop Masters On Netflix